the ambiguous tendency of his speculations.-DISRAELI, ISAAC, 1814, Warburton, Quarrels of Authors.

It is not a little painful to observe on the disingenuousness of petty critics, who would deny to such a man as Warburton the claim of literary abilities. I will maintain, however, that those abilities were really first-rate, whether he be considered as a religionist and a philosopher (characters which, unhappily, are always found together) a polemic, or a writer of notes.-BECKET, ANDREW, 1815, Shakspeare's Himself Again, Preface, p. xix.

not

Warburton's love of paradox is well known. His levity, dogmatism, and surliness have often been exposed. His love of notoriety and of the marvellous was certainly stronger than his attachment to truth. While his talents will always be admired, his character will never be respected. ORME, WILLIAM, 1824, Bibliotheca Biblica.

The currents of life had drifted Warburton on divinity as his profession, but nature designed him for a satirist; and the propensity was too strong to yield even to the study of the Gospels.-STEPHEN, SIR J., 1838, Oxford Catholicism, Edinburgh Review, vol. 67, p. 507.

That it is possible to have all the powers of Warburton, and be greatly in the dark on the truths of the gospel, is made sufficiently evident by his "Treatise on the Doctrine of Grace."-BICKERSTETH, EDWARD, 1844, The Christian Student.

A divine of almost unrivalled erudition (Jortin excepted) in his day.-MILMAN, HENRY HART, 1854? History of Latin Christianity, vol. VIII, bk. xiv, ch. viii, note.

In his literary character, he was of a bold and determined English spirit, ready to resist all opponents, and willing to consider the state of authorship as a state of war. If any deduction be made from this part of his character, it must be on account of his conduct towards Pope, in his advances to whom there appears no great magnanimity, and whom he has always been suspected of defending rather from hope of possible advantage than from sincerity of settled opinion.

Whatever faults he had, he was no bigot.
With bigots he professed to be at perpet-
ual war.
His mind, certainly, was not

of the class in which bigotry fixes itself. WATSON, JOHN SELBY, 1863, Life of William Warburton, pp. 618, 631.

We have already related some of Warburton's more signal enmities. They are samples only of a whole career. Nay, the man himself is in this but the representative man of his age. Theological literature was a babel of loud vociferation, coarse contradiction, and mean imputation. The prize in this mêlée was to the noisiest lungs and the foulest tongue. The Warburtonians must not bear the blame alone; nor was the disease of distraction confined to divines. The progress of refinement cannot tame the passions, but has curbed the directness with which they then vented themselves in words. Even now malignant imputation, banished from higher literature, still lingers in clerical controversy. But, after every deduction made, we still find there rests upon the Warburtonian school an extraordinary opprobrium on the score of dirt-throwing. Warburton's superiorty and his generous temper ought to have exempted him from this weakness of inferior writers. Instead of that he is the worst offender. The vigour of his thought does not concentrate itself in telling paragraphs. It is a rude-we had almost said brute-force penetrating the whole. And his English style is so slipslop, that it would be difficult to find in all the thirteen volumes of his works half a dozen passages which might be taken as fair specimens of his peculiar powers.-PATTISON, MARK, 1863-89, Life of Bishop Warburton, Essays, ed. Nettleship, vol. II, pp. 160, 175.

Bishop Warburton wrote "Remarks on Hume's 'Natural History of Religion."" They are not of much value; in fact, this is one of Warburton's poorest performances. His words were many and strong, his arguments few and feeble. Warburton defended Christianity by throwing mud at its opponents.-HUNT, JOHN, 1869, David Hume, Contemporary Review, vol. 11, p. 95.

Warburton was a fortunate author. Though he published a host of paradoxical notions, his opponents, if we are to trust his repeated assertions, were always fools and knaves.-ELWIN, WHITWELL, 1871, ed., The Works of Alexander Pope, vol. 1, p. xiv, note.

In Warburton force predominated very much over judgment. He delighted in upholding paradoxes and hopeless causes -arguing with great ingenuity, eking out his argument with plentiful abuse, and, when violently excited, even going the length of threatening his opponent with the cudgel. His command of language, if used with greater discretion, would have given him one of the highest places in literature. His style is simple, emphatic, and racy; diversified with clever. quotations and pungent sarcasm (often taking the form of irony).-MINTO, WILLIAM, 1872-80, Manual of English Prose Literature, p. 427.

He cultivated the majestic air of a tyrant in literature; he argued, he denounced, he patronised the orthodox, and he bellowed like a bull at the recalcitrant. He was so completely certain of his own intellectual supremacy, that the modern reader feels almost guilty in being able to feel but scant interest in him and in his writings. Warburton was very learned, but so headstrong, arrogant, and boisterous, that he stuns the reader, and those who now examine the vast pile of his writings are not likely to be gratified. What he might gain by his vigour he more than loses by his coarseness, and the student sickens of his ostentation and his paradox.-GOSSE, EDMUND, 1888, A History of Eighteenth Century Literature, p. 281.

Is as tricky as Pope himself when it suits his purpose to be so.

Warburton's stupendous self-assertion concealed to some extent his heavy style and poverty of thought. His aim was to startle by paradoxes, since he could not convince by argument. No one could call an opponent names in the Billingsgate style more effectively, and every man who ventured to differ from him was either a knave or a fool. "Warburton's stock argument," it has been said, "is a threat to cudgel anyone who disputes his opinion." He was a laborious student, and the mass of work he accomplished exhibits his robust energy, but he has left nothing which lives in literature or in theology. He was, however, a man of various acquisitions, and won, for that reason, the praise of Dr. Johnson.-DENNIS, JOHN, 1894, The Age of Pope, pp. 56, 240.

age; strong, uncompromising, vigorous with something of the sinewy force of the athlete, direct and even brutal in manner, swollen with the self-satisfied pride of the combatant, and without anything of sentiment or feeling.-CRAIK, HENRY, 1895, ed., English Prose, Introduction, vol. Iv, p.3.

To take by storm the Temple of Fame seems to have been the valiant resolve of the once-renowned author of "The Divine Legation of Moses." He flung its warders a loud defiant summons to surrender, and thundered at its doors. Had violence sufficed for the achievement, so fierce and arrogant a knight of the pen would assuredly have added enduring reputation to his wordly success; but though he proved himself an effective soldier in the controversial campaigns of his own day, it was inevitable that the judgment of time should go in his disfavour. The sword and lance of Warburton's mental equipment, however fitted to put an adversary to silence, were powerless to overawe "the incorruptible Areopagus of posterity." Churchman as he was, and in the end prelate, the weapons of his warfare were not spiritual, nor the virtues of his character and temper the distinctive Christian graces.-DIXON, W. MACNEILE, 1895, English Prose, ed. Craik, vol. IV, p.93.

Who would care a picayune in these degenerate days what Dr. Warburton said pro or con a book? It was Warburton (then Bishop of Gloucester) who remarked of Granger's "Biographical History of England" that it was "an odd one." This was as high a compliment as he ever paid a book; those which he did not like he called sad books, and those which he fancied he called odd ones.-FIELD, EUGENE, 1896, The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac, p. 184.

William Warburton was a rather typical divine of the age, who, after perhaps occupying too high a position in it, has been unduly depreciated in this.. Warburton just came short of being a great theologian and a great man of letters. His controversial manners cannot be defended, but we should probably have heard a good deal less of them if he had been on the unorthodox side.-SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, 1898, A Short History of English Literature, p. 632.

be: and I envy him no part of his good fortune. But then, though I am free to acknowledge he was made for the stage, I cannot be brought to think the stage was made only for him; or that the fate of every dramatic writer ought either to be at his mercy, or that of any other manager whatever; and the single consideration that there is no alternative but to fly from him, in case of any neglect or contempt, to Mr. Rich, is enough to deter any man in his senses from embarking a second time on such a hopeless voyage.-RALPH, J., 1758, Case of Authors by Profession.

th

The favor I meet with from y° Greatest men, has made me far from repenting of my choice. I am very intimate with Mr. Glover, who will bring out a Tragedy next winter upon my acc'. Twice I have sup'd why Great Mr. Murray, Consell', and shall wth Mr. Pope, by his Introduction. I sup'd with y Mr. Littleton y Prince's Favourite, last Thursday night, and that with y highest Civility and complaisance. He told me he never knew what Acting was till I appeared, and said I was only born to act w Shakespear writ. These, things daily occurring give me Great Pleasure. I din'd with L Hallifax and L Sandwich, two very ingenious Noblemen, yesterday, and am to dine at Ld Hallifax's next Sunday with L Chesterfield. I have the Pleasure of being very intimate, too, with Mr. Hawkins Browne of Burton. In short, I believe nobody (as an Actor) was ever more caress'd, and my Character as a private Man makes 'em' more desirous of my Company. (All this entre nous, as one Broth' to another). I am not fix'd for next year, but shall certainly be at ye Other End of y Town. I am offered 500 guineas and a Clear Benefit, or part of y Management.-GARRICK, DAVID, 1759, Letter to Peter Garrick, Apr. 19.

I have known one little man support the theatrical world like a David Atlas upon his shoulders, but Préville can't do half as much here, though Mad. Clairon stands by him and sets her back to his.... You are much talked of here, and much expected, as soon as the peace will let you. These two last days you have happened to engross the whole conversation at the great houses where I was at dinner. 'Tis the greatest problem in nature in

this meridian that one and the same man should possess such tragic and comic powers, and in such an equilibrio as to divide the world from which of the two Nature intended him.-STERNE, LAURENCE, 1762, Letter to David Garrick from Paris. If manly sense; if Nature link'd with Art; If thorough knowledge of the human heart; If powers of acting vast and unconfin'd; If fewest faults with greatest beauties join'd; If strong expression, and strange powers which lie

Within the magic circle of the eye; If feelings which few hearts like his can know,

And which no face so well as his can show, Deserve the preference: Garrick! take the chair;

Nor quit it till thou place an equal there. -CHURCHILL, CHARLES, 1763, The Rosciad, v, 1081–1090.

WILKES. "Garrick would have made the small-beer still smaller. He is now

leaving the stage; but he will play Scrub all his life." I knew that Johnson would let nobody attack Garrick but himself, as Garrick once said to me, and I had heard him praise his liberality; so to bring out his commendation of his celebrated pupil, I said, loudly, "I have heard Garrick is liberal." JOHNSON.-"Yes, Sir, I know that Garrick has given away more money than any man in England that I am acquainted with, and that not from ostentatious views. Garrick was very poor when he began life; so when he came to have money, he probably was very unskil ful in giving away, and saved when he should not. But Garrick began to be liberal as soon as he could; and I am of opinion, the reputation of avarice which he has had, has been very lucky for him, and prevented his having many enemies. You despise a man for avarice but do not hate him. Garrick might have been much better attacked for living with more splendour than is suitable to a player: if they had had the wit to have assaulted him in that quarter, they might have galled him more. But they have kept clamouring about his avarice, which has rescued him from much obloquy and envy."-JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1776, Life by Boswell, ed. Hill, vol. III, p. 80.

Here lies David Garrick, describe me who can,

An abridgment of all that was pleasant in

man;

As an actor, confess'd without rival to shine: As a wit, if not first, in the very first line: Yet, with talents like these, and an excellent heart,

The man had his failings, a dupe to his art. Like an ill-judging beauty, his colours he spread,

And beplaster'd with rouge his own natural red.

On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting;

'Twas only that when he was off he was acting.

With no reason on earth to go out of his way, He turn'd and he varied full ten times a day: Though secure of our hearts, yet confound

edly sick,

If they were not his own by finessing and trick:

He cast off his friends, as a huntsman his pack,

For he knew when he pleas'd he could whistle them back

Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came,

And the puff of a dunce, he mistook it for fame;

Till his relish grown callous, almost to disease,

Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please.

But let us be candid, and speak out our mind, If dunces applauded, he paid them in kind. Ye Kenricks, ye Kellys, and Woodfalls so grave,

What a commerce was yours, while you got and you gave!

How did Grub-street re-echo the shouts that you rais'd,

While he was be-Roscius'd, and you were be-prais'd!

But peace to his spirit, wherever it flies,

To act as an angel, and mix with the skies: Those poets, who owe their best fame to his skill,

Shall still be his flatterers, go where he will, Old Shakespeare, receive him, with praise and with love,

And Beaumonts and Bens be his Kellys above!

-GOLDSMITH, OLIVER, 1774, The Retaliation.

Splitt me if I'd not a hundred times rather be spoken to by Garrick in public than His majesty, G-d bless him!BURNEY, CHARLOTTE ANN, 1777, Journal, ed. Ellis, p. 277.

Nature had done so much for him, that he could not help being an actor; she gave him a frame of so manageable a proportion, and from its flexibility so perfectly under command, that, by its aptitude and

elasticity, he could draw it out to fit any sizes of character that tragedy could offer to him, and contract it to any scale of ridiculous diminution, that his Able Drugger, Scrubb, or Fribble, could require of him to sink it to. His eye, in the meantime, was so penetrating, so speaking; his brow so moveable, and all his features so plastic, and so accommodating, that wherever his mind impelled them, they would go; and before his tongue could give the text, his countenance would express the spirit and the passion of the part he was encharged with.-CUMBERLAND, RICHARD, 1806, Memoirs, Written by Himself, p. 245.

Garrick's appearance forms an epoch in the history of the English theatre, as he chiefly dedicated his talents to the great characters of Shakspeare, and built his own fame on the growing admiration of the poet. Before his time, Shakspeare had only been brought on the stage in mutilated and disfigured alterations. Garrick returned on the whole to the true originals, though he still allowed himself to make some very unfortunate changes. It appears to me that the only excusable alteration of Shakspeare is, to leave out a few things not in conformity to the taste of the time. Garrick was undoubtedly a great actor. Whether he always conceived the parts of Shakspeare in the sense of the poet, I from the very circumstances stated in the eulogies on his acting should be inclined to doubt. He excited, however, a noble emulation to represent worthily the great national poet; this has ever since been the highest aim of actors, and even at present the stage can boast of men whose histrionic talents are deservedly famous.-SCHLEGEL, AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, 1809, Dramatic Art and Literature, ch. xiii.

Goldsmith, who played to please the boy, whereas Garrick always seemed playing to please himself, as he did in a theatre. He diverted and dazzled me, but never made me love him; and I had always this feeling for him, though I was too young to define it.-COLMAN, GEORGE, 1830, Random Records, vol. 1, pp. 117,118.

Garrick, too, was a frequent visitor in Poland Street and St. Martin's Lane. That wonderful actor loved the society of children, partly from good nature, and partly from vanity. The ecstasies of